‘Race Based Park Management’

Three aboriginal Bands have effectively been given co-management of Vancouver’s historic Stanley Park, while a fourth Band has gone to court, demanding ownership of the taxpayer-funded park. This is in tandem with the city’s Mayor, who already talks like aboriginals own the Lower Mainland:

‘Vancouver archeologist to work with ‘First Nations’ on future of Stanley Park’

“The ‘Vancouver Park Board’ has hired its own staff archeologist to work with ‘First Nations’ {at taxpayer expense} as it considers the future of Stanley Park and others in the city, ensuring those plans take into account the area’s historical and cultural significance to local aboriginal communities.

“Geordie Howe, a former head of the ‘B.C. Association of Professional Archaeologists’ who has toiled in the field for four decades, will consult with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, whose {claimed} ‘traditional territories’ include the park. The board says a ‘First Nations’ representative was involved directly in, and approved of, his hiring.

“He says one of the main challenges will be making sure that the plans are equally agreed upon by ‘First Nations’ and the park board.

“What is actually going on there is [‘First Nations’] ‘collective memory’ of what went on at those sites and the importance of those sites to their culture and history, and becoming more familiar with those ideas and concerns in my work that will help alleviate any issues that may come,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be issues – but at least I will have a better understanding of how they view each other’s sites.”

“Stanley Park – named for the governor-general who was the namesake for the Stanley Cup – opened in 1888 on the northwestern edge of what is now downtown Vancouver. The site covers more than 400 hectares, much of it rain forest, as well as notable sites, such as the ‘Vancouver Aquarium’ {and a small fortune has been spent on it over the years, mainly by ‘non-aboriginal’ taxpayers…}.

Lord Stanley of Preston (IMAGE: William James Topley (1845–1930), Library and Archives Canada)

“The Vancouver Park Board – now more than a century old – is a unique body of elected members that was tasked with managing Stanley Park when it was established. Today, the board runs more than 200 parks in the city.

“Mr. Howe says he’s just getting started by reviewing existing policies, and will soon become a contact point for the three ‘First Nations’. He says some of the ‘protocols’ he will develop will be very high level, but he also plans to get down to specifics in dealing with each individual site he works on.

“Sarah Kirby-Yung, chair of the park board, said part of Mr. Howe’s job will be to help ensure ‘First Nations’ are ‘properly consulted’ about new development within the park to ensure they don’t disturb ‘culturally significant’ sites, such as ceremonial or burial sites.

“For example, if we are looking at installing a piece of public art on a site that may have cultural significance to the ‘First Nations’ … then we will have an opportunity to have a discussion around just the significance around that particular site, if it is an appropriate location or not for a piece of public art or not, things of that nature,” she said…

“This past January, the park board committed to actions called for by Canada’s ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ – including a promise to make sure {that}:

“‘Aboriginal protocols’ shall be respected before any potentially invasive technical inspection and investigation of a cemetery site or soil disturbance of a midden site takes place on park lands.”

“Ms. Kirby-Yung hopes the board’s creation of Mr. Howe’s role can be used as a model for others.

“I think we are blazing the trail here,” she said. “Part of Geordie’s job will be defining that role and what it can bring.”

“When asked about a specific site she’s looking forward to working on with Mr. Howe, Carleen Thomas, manager of intergovernmental relations from the Tsleil Waututh ‘Nation’ {a ‘nation’ of 472 people}, had a simple answer.

“Well, obviously, it is the whole park” {Foreshadowing the controversy to come. The people of Vancouver are proud of the Park they have created and their sympathy for aboriginals is going to be tested when aboriginals soon try to take over the whole park, as ‘theirs’. For one example already, see below…}, she said. “Because our people have been there since time out of mind, and when they created the park they just evicted all the people that were living there.”

“She described the relationship with the park board as a “work-in-progress” {the Parks Board gradually caving in…}, but is very excited about Mr. Howe’s hiring. She said he has a working history with the three ‘First Nations’ communities…”

–‘Vancouver archeologist to work with ‘First Nations’ on future of Stanley Park’, MEGAN DOLSKI, Toronto Globe and Mail, July 04, 2016

“A small group of dispossessed{?}aboriginals in Delta are laying claim to a vast swath of southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, including Stanley Park.

“The group members, who have no federal or provincial recognition and no reserve , want their pick of all federal, provincial and municipal lands within the claimed territory…

“The Hwlitsum say they should be given title to many other lands, including municipally-held properties. They specifically say that six Hwiltsum members should each be given 160 acres of Stanley Park, or almost all of the 1,001-acre Park…

“The tiny Hwlitsum Band was formed in 2000{!} after its chief, Ray Wilson, won a 15-year Supreme Court fight to regain his full {racial} Indian status. However, Wilson and his extended family{!},which comprises about 250 people, have been unable to get official federal and provincial recognition of their Band, with the result that they remain a ‘First Nation’ in name only. They have filed a statement of intent with the ‘B.C. Treaty Commission’, but their claim has not advanced very far.

“Saying their territory was wrongly taken after the shelling of a Gulf Islands village by a Royal Navy gunboat in 1863, the Hwlitsum ‘First Nation’ are claiming in a B.C. Supreme Court action $2 billion in damages from the provincial and federal governments.

“They also want land that has been promised to the Tsawwassen ‘First Nation’ as part of that group’s treaty settlement agreement.

“The case could stall efforts by the federal and provincial governments to resolve long-standing claims by recognized ‘First Nations’…

“Frustrated at the lack of progress and worried that lands they claim may be given to others, the Hwlitsum launched a wide-ranging civil suit on Nov. 7, in which they applied for a large number of injunctions to stop any dispersal of lands that might compromise their claim. In addition to the federal and provincial governments, they named the cities of Vancouver, Richmond and Delta, the Vancouver park board, the Capital Regional District and the Islands Trust, and the regional government that oversees the Gulf Islands…

“The Hwlitsum say they are the descendants of a powerful and feared tribe called the Lamalcha, whose pre-colonial reach extended throughout the southern Strait of Georgia, as far up the Fraser River as Yale. Some of those lands, they say, were jointly shared with other Coast Salish tribes. In a 40-page notice of civil claim, they say one of their principal villages was on Kuper Island near present-day Chemainus, which they abandoned in April 1863, when the gunboat ‘HMS Forward’ shelled it during a dispute. In the ensuing days, several Lamalcha chiefs were captured and hanged, an act the Hwlitsum say would be a war crime today. When colonial powers subsumed and redistributed the Hwlitsum into “Indian bands” — including the Tsawwassen and Musqueam — their true aboriginal title was confused with claims of other ‘nations’ {‘communities’}, they said in their claim…

“The case is far from simple, according to Geoff Plant, a former B.C. attorney-general and the lawyer representing the Tsawwassen ‘First Nation’ {!}…

Turncoat Geoff Plant

“Plant said it remains to be seen whether the Hwlitsum have a case, but he noted that even without reserves and official recognition, aboriginal people who assert their “Indian-ness”{Is that racist, or what???}under the Constitution, may have federally protected rights.

“The constitutional question is if you decide to assert your “Indian-ness” and you are truly aboriginal by ancestry, then if you have a group, is that then a ‘First Nation’?” he said…

{So, it’s about “Indian-ness” — that’s a Canadian Supreme Court word. Remember that the next time someone says it’s about ‘nation’, not ‘race’…}

“The case also has set a precedent for municipalities, according to Reece Harding, a lawyer with ‘Young Anderson’ who represents both Delta and the ‘Islands Trust’.

“In the past, ‘First Nations’ have included provincial and federal lands in their claims, but stopped at municipal governments. The Hwlitsum in this case specifically seek a claim that including those lands.

“This is a novel and serious claim, the first I have seen,” said Harding. “I have never seen a ‘First Nation’ seeking municipal land before, and it will be of concern to other municipalities.”

“Plant also noted that the notice of civil claim doesn’t expressly exclude privately owned land {!}, something that has normally been the case in other land claims cases.“

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/03/small-aboriginal-group-launches-lawsuit-laying-claim-to-vancouvers-prized-stanley-park/♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ COMMENT: “Another aboriginal band, the ‘Howdoigitsum’, has also laid claim to all of Vancouver, the lower mainland, BC Place, Stanley Park Bridge, the Sedins, and the colour green.” ********************************************
REPLY: “They’re willing to dicker a bit on the Sedins.” ******************************************** “Racist? What do you think the Indian Affairs Department is all about? It is based on a race of people. Try that with any other “race” in Canada. The SCoC has got to put an end to this and declare once and for all that ALL persons in Canada are equal. And emphasize that some, based on race, are NOT more equal than others.” ******************************************** “Best thing we could do for our natives: End the money, hand them passports and Canadian Citizenship papers, plus the land / homes they live in. Then we all would be equal in Canada… common sense, but not to the Left. They thrive on having anyone with a need to depend on their “profligate generosity”.

“While the Squamish ‘Nation’ has the most recent history in the park, the downtown peninsula and much of the area of Vancouver is subject to at least five competing land claims, including assertions of historical use by the Sto:Lo, Musqueam, Tsleil Waututh and the Hul Qumi Num treaty group.”

“Stanley Park is known internationally as one of the world’s top urban parks. An evergreen oasis of 400 hectares on the edge of downtown Vancouver, it draws more than eight million visitors annually to its beaches, forests and seawall.

“But would it be just as popular if it was known as ‘Xwayxway’?

“On the eve of Canada Day, a 95-year-old elder from the Squamish ‘First Nation’ {a ‘nation’ of 3,600 people} suggested a shift to the historic {for one tribe, anyway} aboriginal name for the land.

“More than 100 years ago, a village called Xwayxway, which is pronounced ‘kwhy-kway’, was located on the current site of Lumberman’s Arch in the northeastern part of the park. The village was a central gathering spot to exchange food and supplies and to hold ceremonies such as the potlatch.

“B.C. Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger immediately endorsed the idea of putting an aboriginal name alongside the current name.

“Most people {?} this day and age think that is the right thing and a pretty cool thing to do,”

“It is an important thing to acknowledge our history in the name of that place for thousands of years prior to ‘settlers’ coming here,” he told reporters.

{Those aboriginals were ‘settlers’, too, Dum-Dum…}

“The early endorsements have encouraged a Squamish ‘First Nation’ leader to pursue the suggestion. Ian Campbell, a hereditary chief and councillor, said Friday he intends to look for support for a formal proposal to revive the historic name among neighbouring ‘first nations’ who also claim the park as part of their ancestral home.

“A lot of work is currently being done to showcase aboriginal history and establish more ‘authenticity’ {? Why are aboriginal names more ‘authentic’ than English ones? How ridiculously racist!} in the names of locations in the province, Mr. Campbell said in an interview.

“He pointed to ‘Haida Gwaii’, which is the new name for the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the ‘Salish Sea’ for the waters also known as the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound and the Juan de Fuca Strait {But why force English-speaking Canadians to use aboriginal names, many of them unpronounceable?}. “Signs on the ‘Sea-to-Sky’ highway from Vancouver to Whistler are now bilingual — in English and an aboriginal language {that all of 50 people understand. Talk about blatant racial tokenism…}. The signs give a visible presence to the aboriginal people by acknowledging the language of those who {used to} live in the area, Mr. Campbell said. The Squamish people would also like to see new names on some mountain peaks north of Vancouver, which are held ‘sacred’ by the aboriginal people, he said {We don’t mix religion and politics in modern Canada and catering to this backwardness is a huge mistake…}.

“The park was named for Lord Stanley, who served as governor-general in the late 19th century. The name is set out in a 99-year federal lease with the city that was rolled over two years ago. Mr. Campbell said the lease should not be an obstacle.

“There are ways we can work together to strengthen our relationship,” he said.

“Mr. Krueger said the final decision on naming the park would be made by the federal government — which leases the land to the city — consulting with the Vancouver government. However, he was willing to carry the idea forward if the ‘first nations’ would like him to do that.

“Embracing aboriginal names alongside current names is part of the ‘new relationship’ between the provincial government and ‘first nations’, he said.

“It is an acknowledgment that they were here ‘first’{Stop this racist nonense!}, and in fact thousands of years ahead of ‘the rest of us’ {Actually, most of them are probably younger than you…}. It is perfectly understandable and logical and legitimate they would want aboriginal names to be used,” Mr. Krueger said.

{Yes… It’s just NOT “perfectly understandable and logical and legitimate” that the rest of us would agree, nor that we would hire someone like you to lead us backwards…}

“He anticipated that the name Xwayxway would not replace Stanley Park. Rather, the aboriginal name would be in addition to the current name.

“Stanley Park is a world-famous name that is not going to be disappearing. It has been associated with Vancouver for generations and the park is a major tourist attraction. We would have both [names]if we do it,” Mr. Krueger said. “Stanley Park will always be on the map.”

–‘Natives propose new name for Vancouver’s Stanley Park’, Robert Matas, Globe and Mail, July 02, 2010